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Is Alex Rodriguez headed back to the Lone Star State?

By Ted Fleming

Jul 18, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez (13) is slow to get up after an inside pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 18, 2016; Bronx, NY, USA; New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez (13) is slow to get up after an inside pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /
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Astros and Rangers could be interested in the aging star if the price is right, and A-Rod would probably welcome getting out of New York anyway.

The Yankees are in an unfamiliar place with the trade deadline just around the corner. Being sellers isn’t very appealing to them, but that is how the season has played out, and by the time the first of August rolls around, the reconstruction of the Bronx Bombers will have begun.

The persistent rumors have been and will continue to be about their bullpen, although an interesting name has popped up on the radar: Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees would love to separate themselves from the fading 40-year old designated hitter if only they can find a taker.

Well, according to Ryan Davis of Today’s Knuckleball, there is the possibility he could land with either of the two Texas clubs. The Astros and Rangers both have a need as they fight it out for the AL West title.

There is only one issue that has kept the Yankees from moving Rodriguez: a contract that scares any suitor off. The team wants to get younger, and it begins with arguably the most notorious PED user of all time.

Realistically, New York won’t get much in return, probably a Low-A warm body for appearance’s sake. Any interested team will demand they won’t be on the hook for what’s left of a deal that isn’t worth the paper it is written on. But with the Astros and Rangers’ desperate needs, maybe the Yankees pick up a sizable chunk of his contract just to rid themselves of the headache.

Houston started the day in second place, 3.5 games back of Texas and 2.5 back in the Wild Card, and they need someone to plug in at DH, at least against lefties. Evan Gattis isn’t producing, and Rodriguez is having a decent season against southpaws with .246/.306/.446 splits despite hitting .213/.264/.376 overall. In addition, the short porch in left at Minute Maid Park could be an inviting target for the Astros to squeeze out the last remaining drop of gas in A-Rod’s tank.

The Rangers are in more dire need of help because Prince Fielder is facing neck surgery which knocks him out for the rest of the season. Not that they were getting much production out of him anyway (.212/.292/.334), as he had become a hit-or-miss proposition in the lineup.

Fielder hits from the left side and A-Rod from the right, so that still leaves Texas vulnerable against right-handed pitching, but everyone knows Rodriguez from the first fat free agent contract in 2001, and he could feel comfortable enough to be reasonably productive.

If there is one thing that makes the move to the Rangers a better fit than the Astros, the old idiom, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t,” would definitely apply here.

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